The Best Way To Get Listed On Yahoo

Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com/ has an immense reach. They receive, directly, more traffic than any other search engine or directory. Being listed on Yahoo! and DMOZ.org gives you a great boost on your Google.com rankings as well. So if you are not listed on Yahoo! and DMOZ, your pages on Google may never rank as highly as they should. You simply must be in Yahoo! Fortunately, you can now guarantee that you will be reviewed and possibly added within 7 days by paying a fee of $199 to Yahoo! The free submission service has no guarantees and most sites never do end up getting listed through free submission. The $199 fee guarantees that you will get reviewed. But to be definitely added to Yahoo!, especially in a way that gets you the most traffic, you must fulfill certain things:

Yahoo! rankings depend very much on the keywords in your title and description, and the keywords in the category name you are listed under. Select your category very wisely. The best way to find a category for you is to search on Yahoo! for your major competitors. See which category they are listed under and get listed there as well. That way you will be sure you are at a spot where your potential visitors are used to going to.

The title you get listed on Yahoo! with is usually your business name. Yahoo! Is quite strict on this, insisting on listing sites by their business name (company name) and not their site name. Remember, the title is very influential when it comes to how high you will come up on Yahoo! searches. Because the traffic from Yahoo! is so heavy, we suggest that you get a domain name that has the keywords in it. Example: if your primary keyword is 'workers compensation' but your company is called Brown & Gordon P.C., register a business name under your company name that has your keyword. For example, you may register the name Workerscomp.com. Then have your title tag on your web site read Workers Compensation Claims - California - and that’s all, nothing more in the title tag. Then, on your home page, place "Workers compensation claims representing clients throughout California" prominently at the top of the page, so that it looks as though this is what the site is called. All your logos and graphics should be changed to reflect the new name, Workers Compensation - California. You may change everything back to normal once Yahoo! indexes you.

The description you submit to Yahoo! is also something that should have your most important keyword. It should not read like an advert - it should be descriptive. Try to make it in a way that it sounds interesting and informative to a potential client, without sounding like a blatant advert, otherwise Yahoo! will re-write it. Start your description with your most important keyword – the position matters very much when it comes to search rankings on Yahoo! For best results, make the description just one sentence long that is readable and descriptive. Yahoo! Has the habit of cutting down descriptions longer than one sentence long.

Before you submit, make sure all your links are working - Yahoo! tests your page HTML before it includes you. Generally, have a good look at your site and remove everything that would make Yahoo! not list your site - or list it in a way that isn't as you would want it to be. Yahoo! gives a lot of information on how they review a site - see their submission help pages at http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add and http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/faq.html. Follow them to the letter and follow the above instructions to the letter. Once your site is listed at Yahoo! it is next to impossible to have the way the listing is worded changed. So make sure you get it right the first time around.

To submit to Yahoo!, simply go to the category where you wish to have your site listed on Yahoo! and click on the Suggest link at the bottom of that page.

Once you get listed, you should also sign up to have your site become a sponsored site within Yahoo! It costs $25 to $300 or more a month at the time of this writing, depending on the category. Sponsored sites appear in a separate, clearly demarcated listing box, located on appropriate category pages in the directory at the top - which means that you will get a lot more traffic - significantly higher than the non-sponsored listings. To sponsor your site, simply go to the directory page on Yahoo! where it is listed, then click on the Sponsor link and follow the directions.

We keep mentioning ‘most important keyword’ all along. What is this keyword or keyword phrase? This is the keyword or phrase that most people use to find your site. Try to use a two word phrase. A one-word keyword is usually too general and will result in a lot of traffic that is not very interested in your site. So you will end up having a lot of people who just get back out of your site. It is better to use a two-word keyword because that makes sure you get people who are ready to spend time and money on your site. The easiest way to illustrate this is to use the legal industry. If you have an legal site that specializes in medical malpractice, you may be tempted to use 'lawyer' as the keyword that is most popular with searches in your industry. Indeed it is, but you will get people looking for attorneys of all types in all geographical areas. A better phrase would be one that contains the words 'medical malpractice california'. That is the kind of keyword phrase you should enter here. Tools such as Word Tracker and the Goto inventory window will help you see what are the most common keyword searches in your industry.

If you need help finding your important keywords and composing your title or descriptions, you may find an appropriate online marketing company to do that for you (such as attorneypromote.com). Generally, even if you do get someone to write your title and description for you, make sure you review it carefully before you submit it – after all, it is your site and you only get one shot at this when it comes to Yahoo!

courtesy of postitionweaver.com

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